Online casino and sportsbook Pnxbet has announced instant cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals, and dramatic esports betting growth. 

Curacao-licensed Pnxbet accepts major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Monero (XMR), and Ether (ETH), and says instant deposits and withdrawals will be a “game-changer for online players.”

The operator has witnessed record growth in the first half of 2020, driven in large part by esports – which the company invested heavily in as the COVID-19 crisis developed and effectively shut down global sports. 

Since launching in November 2018, Pnxbet says it has taken USD $117 million in bets, with the success driven by the popularity of its esports betting – which saw a staggering 560% growth in terms of bets placed. 

In terms of the fast-growing Southeast Asian market, the site has now registered more than 100,000 users in the region which includes the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia. 

Pnxbet says it has paid out $42 million in winnings since launching. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Once the preserve of niche operators, the COVID-19 crisis has truly pushed esports betting into the mainstream, and made it a critical part of any online operator’s offering. Cryptocurrencies too, which were once the domain of specialist casinos, are now rapidly transitioning into an expected payment method for all operators. 

Earlier today we reported that OPTIBET, Enlab’s flagship online casino and sportsbook for the Baltic and Nordic regions, has partnered with EveryMatrix to add comprehensive esports betting.

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

Esports betting platform Unikrn has teamed up with data provider GRID to launch ESPORTS MILLIONS. 

ESPORTS MILLIONS is a “free-to-play, live prediction game”, run in conjunction with Unikrn’s sponsorship of Relog’s CS:GO 9to5 event. 

The initiative will give Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) fans the chance to earn a share of a €1 million jackpot during the upcoming 9to5 event. 

Over the coming weeks fans will be asked ten questions, and the three fans that notch up the best record will win gaming PCs. Any fan scoring perfect marks will be eligible to win the jackpot. 

Discussing the initiative COO of GRID, Thomas Warburton, said:

“We aimed at encapsulating the excitement of a high stakes wager and combining it with friendly competition. As fans, we love to look at esports and contest the next breakout stars, ESPORTS MILLIONS hopes to take the significance of the fans’ opinion to a whole new level. We could not think of a better partner to help us premiere ESPORTS MILLIONS than Unikrn.”

While CPO and CMO of Unikrn, Karl Flores, added:

“Million dollar prize pools are commonplace in esports, but this is the first time esports fans could become millionaires themselves. We host a hyper-engaged community of esports fans. Pairing GRID’s data-driven questions, our customers’ prowess, and our tips tools, we’re looking forward to a CS:GO fan making esports history.”

The event runs from 29 June through September, and will feature teams including fore, Godsent, Havu, MIBR, North, OG, and Team Spirit. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Esports is already notable for its deep fan engagement, and initiatives like this can only take that to entirely new levels. With such a big prize up for grabs, we’re sure the questions will be pretty tough, so we better get swotting up!

Staying with Unikrn, earlier this month the company announced it will be integrating the upcoming Atari Token into its cryptocurrency ecosystem, and in May AYO.NEWS’ very own Simona Pinterova caught up with Rahul Sood, CEO & Founder of Unikrn. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

Swedish iGaming group Enlabs has launched esports betting at its flagship OPTIBET brand, via a partnership with EveryMatrix. 

According to Enlabs, OPTIBET, which is one of the leading sports betting and casino brands in the Baltic region, will now offer “the industry’ most extensive esports coverage”, and boasts a bespoke front-end with streaming capabilities, powered by the OddsMatrix engine.

Discussing the news Head of Betting at OPTIBET, Daniel Belozetsev, said:

“We always strive to provide our customers with the best and most relevant content. With EveryMatrix we are offering a modern approach to eSports betting, getting access to the rapidly growing world of professional sports competitions using video games. We are confident that this addition will attract new customers who like video games and increase interest of existing customers by offering new betting opportunities.”

While Group COO of EveryMatrix, Stian Hornsletten, added:

“I admire the work done at Enlabs in the past years and I think the present partnership is an important milestone for our esports services. Being creative in advancing new forms of entertainment is something that OPTIBET has very successfully done in the past years, and I am positive that esports betting will reinforce their market-leading position.”

Launched in early 2019 and overhauled in Spring 2020, the OddsMatrix Esports Services now provides coverage of over 55,000 monthly events, and more than 50,000 live events, across 22 titles, and provides streaming for 95% of all major live matches.

AYO.NEWS says:

Though many seem to think the COVID-19 crisis is over, the truth is that it is likely just beginning, and the first wave may well have been comparatively mild. 

With Germany now reimposing regional lockdowns, a second wave confirmed in South Korea, a major outbreak in Beijing, record numbers of infections across South America and India, and news that Israel is considering going back into lockdown, we’d say the crisis is far from over. 

Given this it’s not surprising to see more major sports betting operators, like Enlabs, beefing up their esports offering.  

Earlier this month, Enlabs resumed operations in Latvia, following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

In-game app creation, distribution and monetisation platform Overwolf has acquired CurseForge from Twitch, marking its aggressive expansion into game mods. 

Overwolf, which has more than 30,000 creators and a library of over 90,000 game mods and apps, says its mission is “to bet the home for in-game creators, who develop amazing experiences that enhance games and improve performance for the gamer.”

Following the acquisition, the CurseForge mod manager for gamers will transition away from the Twitch client and become a standalone desktop app. Tools and services for building and uploading mods will remain unaffected. 

Commenting on the acquisition Director of Engineering, Gaming Communities at Twitch, Tim Aldridge, said:

“We’ve been deeply impressed by the level of passion and collaboration in the CurseForge modding community. CurseForge is an incredible asset for both creators and gamers. We are confident that the CurseForge community will thrive under Overwolf’s leadership, thanks to their commitment to empowering developers.”

While Overwolf CEO, Uri Marchand, added:

“CurseForge is the embodiment of how fostering a community of creators around games generates  value for both players and game developers. As we move to onboard mods onto our platform, we’re positioning Overwolf as the industry standard for building in-game creations.”

Overwolf says it believes in-game creators should be able to make a fair living off their work, and has pledged to pay CurseForge mod authors 50% more by 2022, while not disrupting their current revenue streams. 

Tel Aviv-based Overwold has raised USD $25 million to date from investors including Marker, Intel Capital, and Liberty Media. The platform offers apps and more for many popular video game titles including VALORANT, Teamfight Tactics, League of Legends, Hearthstone, Rainbow Six, CS:GO, and Dota 2. 

AYO.NEWS says:

The modding community is one of the most fascinating aspects of the gaming world, and has steadily grown from a labour of love by passionate fans, eager to make the games they love even better, into a true industry. 

With a future that will also increasingly utilise blockchain and tokenisation to allow the true ownership and transferability, between games, of digital assets, we really are witnessing the very beginnings of a true parallel virtual global economy. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

INTRALOT is powering Taiwan Sports Lottery Corporation (TSLC) with a new CMS solution and esports sportsbook. 

Athens-listed gambling technology and lottery systems supplier INTRALOT has announced it is supplying the Taiwanese operator with advanced content management system (CMS) INTRALOT Canvas, and an esports sportsbook. 

According to INTRALOT, its Canvas CMS will allow TSLC, a long-standing customer, to rapidly build and configure a responsive HTML5 betting portal offering a full-featured betting experience, optimised for all screen sizes, with customised, personalised and rich betting content for all online players. 

INTRALOT Canvas features embedded software tools, like personalisation, analytics, player engagement and marketing, along with a comprehensive set of betting-specific functionalities. 

Additionally, INTRALOT has enabled TSLC to enhance its sportsbook with esports betting, powered by Sportradar. The first title to be supported will be League of Legends (LoL), through both retail and online channels, with additional titles to be added in the near future. 

Discussing the news President of TSLC, Mr Ted Lin, said:

“We are pleased to successfully have integrated the new multi-tool CMS, INTRALOT Canvas, that will help us address operational efficiency and achieve a fast time-to-market response.

“In addition, the introduction of new eSports games in Taiwan will give us the opportunity to enter the fastest-growing eSports betting market and broaden our audience with players from different segments.”

While INTRALOT Group CEO, Dr. Chris Dimitriadis, added:

“We are excited to see our long-standing partner in Taiwan TSLC, paving the way in gaming and keep growing. At INTRALOT, we capitalize on our technological expertise to meet the evolving market demand and help our customers offer steadily an elevated gaming entertainment to their players”.

AYO.NEWS says:

Considering the popularity and growth of esports in the Southeast Asian region, TSLC is a bit late to the scene – but better late than never! Of course, to stand any chance of gaining traction with esports fans, they will need to rapidly scale their offering beyond League of Legends. 

Staying with Taiwanese esports, yesterday Riot Games announced Taiwan-based CTBC Bank as an official partner of the League of Legends Pacific Championship Series (PCS). 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

Riot Games has announced Taiwan-based CTBC Bank as an official partner of the Pacific Championship Series (PCS). 

The three-year deal will see the privately-owned Taiwanese bank support the PCS as it expands operations beyond Taiwan, integrating new broadcast facilities in Thailand and Singapore.  

The PCS was formed in September 2019, through the merger of the League of Legends Master Series (LMS) and League of Legends Southeast Asia Tour (LST), and is operated through a partnership of Riot Games, FunPlus Esports, and Garena. 

Discussing the partnership Head of Esports at Riot Games Southeast Asia, Chris Tran, said:

“CTBC Bank’s commitments to integrity, innovation and care for their customers directly echo the driving principles of the PCS. We’re thrilled to team up with them on this groundbreaking partnership, which will provide meaningful and long-term value to our fans. We couldn’t be more excited to build the future of League of Legends esports in the region together.”

While President of CTBC Bank, James Chen, added:

“The global gaming market is growing rapidly, and supporting esports in the region is one of the key ways that we’re getting a better understanding of younger customers and their needs. Our long-standing commitment to technology and innovation has driven us over the past few years to launch products and services like LINE Pay credit cards and a redesigned online banking site and mobile app.

“Now, through this long-term partnership with Riot Games and the PCS, we aim to continue cultivating Southeast Asian markets and to become one of the region’s most influential financial brands.”

AYO.NEWS says:

We’re seeing more and more banking and financial services businesses wake up to the fact esports offers one of the few effective conduits to reach the critical younger generations – who simply aren’t exposed to traditional media advertising any more. 

Just last week MAD Lions announced imagin as its official financial sector partner, while in May Astralis Group named banking app Lunar as its latest partner. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020